


marigolds

by sassyweethang



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Author got stuck on Marigolds for some reason, Awkward Flirting, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Dorks in Love, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Grocery Shopping, M/M, POV Magnus Bane, Shyness, Stalking, Tumblr Prompt, only a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-20 22:05:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17630531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassyweethang/pseuds/sassyweethang
Summary: Of all the things...why marigolds?





	marigolds

**Author's Note:**

> _anonymous asked: Prompt fic: ✨ Shadowhunters - Malec ✨ Maybe one of these might tickle your fancy? One is a checkout operator that sees the same customer shop for a different surprising item each day and tries to guess the reason behind its purchase... Just when he'd reached first name terms with his dashing new postie, his annual bumper pack of trial samples from Cocked & Loaded is delivered... Or anything you have the time and inclination to grace us with...🙏😀_
> 
>  
> 
> i went with the first and it kinda went from multiple items to just marigolds…i don’t know why…it just did and then it got away from me and yeah…oops?
> 
>  
> 
> **beta: the always wonderful ladymatt**

Magnus wasn’t the type to overthink things. 

(Somewhere in the wilds of the English countryside, Ragnor Fell inexplicably burst into side splitting laughter.) 

But recently there was one thing he kept coming back to over and over...why marigolds? 

Of all the things to buy every second day for the past three months, come rain or shine, why on earth would it be marigolds? 

Milk, understandable. Bread, a box of diapers, that odd last minute ‘oh jeez I forgot and now I’m a dead man walking’ anniversary/birthday card, tampons or pads on a monthly basis and, of course, the messily dressed dear-god-I-don’t-care-just-gimmie condoms dash two minutes before closing. 

He’d seen it all really. 

But marigolds? 

This...this was a new one. Even for him. 

Magnus Bane had run the small cozy corner bodega since his mother had retired to the warmer climates of Florida to soundly trounce everybody at Mahjong two years ago. 

The little Brooklyn establishment had been family owned and a well loved permanent fixture of the community for two generations now. Ninety percent of the customers he knew well enough to hold a conversation about their latest family disaster, without it being a stilted conversation. It had a familial atmosphere to it. 

But three months ago a new face had appeared in his little shop of everything. Tall, dark and handsome.

He was a touch awkward and shy and had ducked into the shop about fifteen minutes to closing and, clearly new to the neighbourhood. Wide eyed, he’d watched as a gaggle of old dears brushed past him on their way out as he held the door for them, not even pausing in their tirade about what their grandchildren where up to these days in fast-paced Russian. The poor guy looked more than a little lost. Most did around these parts. It wasn’t like Chinatown or Little Italy where the borders were defined and the occupants could trace their families back to that one corner of the globe. Here, a handpainted sign in Korean wasn’t out of place beside a Spanish board or a laminated menu in Polish.  

Magnus took pity on him, after a minute of checking him out thoroughly. 

“Need something, darling?” Magnus asked and tall, dark and ridiculously good looking finally turned from the space the gaggle of geriatrics once occupied to face him. 

“Uh…” he said quietly, a little stunned.

Magnus smiled at him, “Long day?”

“Yes...yes, it...Simon moved,” he replied, tumbling over his words as he stared at Magnus. 

“Ah and you got roped into helping lug up boxes to the new place?” Magnus asked, all too familiar with the prospect. Ragnor had far too much stuff and a fondness for gallivanting off to new abodes when the urge struck him. 

“Yes, that’s...I don’t know why I did though. He’s Clary’s friend,” handsome and confused muttered, looking for all the world like he had no idea how he got to this point. 

“Take it she’s your friend?” Magnus inquired and Mr Hot’s nose crinkled in distaste. 

“No, she’s dating my brother.”

Magnus snorted, “So it’s his fault you’re lost and confused.”

“Everything is always Jace’s fault,” the gentle giant said with the tone of man who has endured countless unnecessary and often terrible adventures at the hands of his sibling. More than a little resigned and so very,  _ very _ tired. 

“And now you’ve been entrusted, or perhaps you volunteered, to get that one item that wasn’t packed or something this Simon fellow desperately needs?” Magnus filled in the gaps and the gentleman’s shoulders dropped a little guiltily.  _ Volunteered then _ , Magnus thought,  _ probably to escape for five minutes _ . 

“Marigolds. He needs marigolds because he can’t wait until tomorrow to deep clean the new apartment,” the man rolled his eyes. 

“How rude of him,” Magnus commiserated, with only a touch of sarcasm. His new found eye candy didn’t take much note of the sarcastic edge to Magnus’ words though. 

“Yes, exactly...umm where?” he looked around, finger pointing down the different aisles like a spinning compass. 

“At the back of the shop, darling, next to the toiletries,” Magnus offered up helpfully. 

“Thanks.”

The beautiful giant narrowly avoided colliding with a stand and ducked embarrassed down the furthest aisle. Magnus watched him go happily, it was a nice view and those jeans where just the right side of tight. 

It was quite a stretch of time before the man returned, a single pair of bright yellow gloves clutched in one hand as he shyly approached the counter. Magnus just smiled encouragingly at the man as he blushed under his intense gaze. 

“Find them easily enough?” 

“Yes, perfecty. Right where you said they’d be.” 

“Excellent, is that all you’ll be needing from my fine establishment this day?” Magnus asked, throwing a little emphasis into his words. Sure it might have been a little cliche and like something out of Catarina’s romance novels but frankly, it was the end of the day and Magnus hadn’t had a date in a while. He wouldn’t have minded if the leather jacket wearing hottie swept him off his feet for the rest of the night. He did have a great arse. 

“Yeah, just those, thanks,” was the answer and Magnus felt a little disappointed but not as much as he could have been if the man’s cheeks hadn’t turned rosy again. So he wasn’t the sweeping kind of guy but maybe he could be coaxed into a return visit and maybe a drink, coffee to start with, he’d ease him into a club date later. Magnus did enjoy a challenge after all. 

“I do hope you’ll drop by again Mr…?” Magnus prompted unsubtly as he took his time ringing up the marigolds. 

“Alec,” he answered quickly and Magnus smiled at the complete lack of hesitation. 

“Short for Alexander, I presume.”

Alec melted visibly and his answering ‘yeah’ was a little breathless. Magnus found it deliciously charming and decided to ignore ‘Alec’ and just use ‘Alexander’ at every opportunity, especially if that was the reaction he was likely to get. 

“Wonderful,” Magnus said. “Well then, that’s a dollar fifty, Alexander.”

Alec’s cheeks pinkened delightfully as he fished out the change from his pocket and handed it over. “Um, thanks.”

“My absolute pleasure, Alexander,” Magnus said truthfully as he leaned his chin on his hand, getting comfortable against the counter to watch Alexander go. 

Alec nearly fell over his own feet as he backed away, clearly not wanting to look away from Magnus but gravity reminded him of reality and he all but fled in embarrassment from the bodega. 

Magnus sighed contentedly as he watched Alec get turned around on the street twice before he finally remembered where he had to go. 

 

* * *

 

He hadn’t expected to see Alec again so soon but two days later and soaked to the skin in the latest downpour to hit the city, there was Alexander, dripping in the entryway of his shop. 

Magnus had expected more than a transaction of goods from their second encounter but Alec once again shyly bought a pair of marigolds and with red cheeks, once again left Magnus’ life. 

This pattern continued for three months as Autumn’s frequent downpours gave way to the perpetual slush of Winter. Always those striking yellow marigolds, always the briefest and shiest of interactions. Magnus had tried to ask Alec out for coffee once but the date had sadly not worked for Alec and there’d been no time to figure out a day that worked for both of them as a line had grown behind Alec. The next time Alec had come in, he hadn’t raised the subject and Magnus had resigned himself to one step forward, two steps back. 

Still he wasn’t about to give up on seducing his newest regular customer. Even if he seemed obsessed with marigolds. Maybe he was starting a collection? 

The point being that Magnus rather enjoyed their short talks, they’d become the highlight of his day and something to look forward to, so it wasn’t like he was hitting a brick wall, just a small knee height fence or decorative hedge. He still learnt about Alec. His sister and two brothers (Izzy, Jace and Max), his job (police detective) and their jobs (forensic pathologist, also a detective and still in school but desperate to escape). Each crumb of Alec’s life, loves and hobbies was like a tasty entree before the main course and Magnus lapped them up happily, offering his own in return. Such as how his mother was still whining about the lack of grandbabies and did he really want her to suffer when all the other woman in the neighbourhood had grandbabies. Or about Cat’s many stories of the ER, most of them regarding what unfortunate inanimate (and on one occasion ALIVE) objects some people inserted into their bodies by ‘falling on them’. Those anecdotes always made Alec laugh or wince with false sympathy. 

Magnus was content with the pace, after all, slow and steady won the race and he so very much wanted to win Alec over. 

Of course fate had other ideas. In this case it was Isabelle, Alec’s little sister, that decided to intervene and speed up the seduction process. 

Izzy arrived on a cold and blustery morning, looking divine in a shape-hugging wool coat and her hair artfully windswept. She took a moment to shake off the cold of the outside world before running her eyes over the shop. Once she spotted him, she smiled and marched over with purpose. 

“So you’re Magnus,” she greeted. 

“I am indeed and you are?” Magnus asked with a little trepidation.

“Alec’s sister.” 

“Ah Isabelle, lovely to meet you,” Magnus said and it was, if a little out of left field. 

“And you. Okay Alec wants to ask you out but he’s too chicken shit to actually do it so you need to do it instead, preferably before we have to open our own shop to sell all the damn marigolds he keeps buying,” Izzy said, bypassing niceties and getting straight to the point. Magnus blinked in stunned silence for more than a minute as Izzy waited for him to catch up to her. 

“I’m sorry?”

“My brother,” she said slowly as though his problem was with how quickly she dumped this on him rather than the details, “fancies you. He keeps coming here, buying unnecessary cleaning gloves to try and ask you out. Seeing as he hasn’t yet,  **you** need to step up and do the deed. Seriously, it’s getting ridiculous.”

“Is it?”

“We live on the other side of Brooklyn, we don’t own a car and my brother is spending most of his free time and a considerable portion of his paycheck to stalk a hot shop owner,” Izzy reiterated. “Ordinarily this would be fun to watch but it’s been three months and everybody’s out of the betting pool at this point. Except Raj, but Raj dated Alec way back so he has the inside scoop on how long it could take.”

“How long does Raj think it’ll be?” Magnus asked curiously. 

Izzy rolled her eyes. “He’s got it down as six months or after the next big case gets closed, apparently my brother can get a little confident when he’s served justice.”

“Aha,” Magnus said, hiding his amusement at the whole situation. 

“Look, I know this is pretty much out of the blue-” she started.

“No kidding,” Magnus interrupted, barely hiding the smirk. 

“-but he really likes you and I think you like him too,” she finished, ignoring his statement. She let her words hang in the air between them meaningfully. 

Magnus did like Alec, obviously. But he figured he could let Izzy stew for a moment or two, she did storm in to meddle in her brother’s affairs. Something he knew Alec wasn’t fond of from their many talks. So for Alec, he let Izzy’s confidence in her command of the situation take a knock. Just enough to leave her second guessing herself for a moment. 

“I do have a question,” Magnus said. 

Izzy perked up and waved her hand encouraging him to ask.

“Why marigolds?” Magnus asked. Izzy grinned, bright teeth framed by perfectly red lips. 

“They’re at the back of shop and mostly hidden from view,” she answered.

“So he could watch me from afar?” Magnus questioned, feeling a little warm at the idea of Alec hiding in the back so he could catch a glimpse of him. Izzy chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. 

“More like so he could freak out, try and build up the courage to ask you out, ultimately fail and then return again with unnecessary cleaning supplies...Seriously mum’s starting to think he’s developing OCD or something and she’s getting that overprotective look in her eye, it’s only a matter of time before she pulls out the pamphlets,” Izzy shivered. She reached across the counter to grasp Magnus’ hands and give him a very serious look. “For the love of all that is good, either give him your number or let him down gently before mum burns through a forest trying to prove how supportive she is. We don’t need a repeat of the great coming out spectacle of 2016.”

Magnus merely cocked an eyebrow. 

Izzy rolled her eyes, “I’ll just say this; pamphlets, a few queens from...well Queen’s and an unmarked box with things we never want our mother to buy for us.”

“Useful and thoughtful,” Magnus noted, a little impressed. Coming out to his own mother had resulted in more than a few tears, mostly over the lack of grandchildren. He’d had to remind her he was bisexual three times and that there was more than one way to have a kid twice before she’d calmed down enough to pat his hand and tell him to bring home a nice young boy or girl before she got too old to hold her grandbabies. 

“Yes and yes but also so embarrassing for him and surprisingly us too, I didn’t need a lecture on how to accept my brother...I was ahead of that curve by the time he hit thirteen and was stealing my boy mags that Clary and I bought on the sly,” Izzy said proudly and with just a hint of mischief. Enough to pique his interest. 

“What did you do?”

Her smile was sly and smug, “Pointed him in the direction of like-minded boys on the lacrosse team and dyed his underwear and socks pink. What? He didn’t return the mags, that’s theft and he deserved the colourful underwear in response.” 

Magnus laughed. 

Izzy’s smile was wide but after a moment it dimmed into something more serious, “Please ask him out, or if that’s not what you want then maybe drop the hint you’re taken or something. Be gentle. He doesn’t get worked up over someone very often.”

“Oh I intend to ask him out, I was just going at his pace,” Magnus supplied and Izzy’s smile turned as soft as his own. 

“Good...but not his pace anymore. For our collective sanity,” she begged. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Magnus promised and Izzy let out a squeal of glee before pushing herself over the counter to kiss Magnus’ cheek. 

She returned to the windswept streets of Brooklyn before Magnus could react. Leaving nothing but a red lipped outline on his cheek and ideas in her wake.

 

* * *

 

For the next time that Alec walked through the door, Magnus was prepared. Gold highlights in his hair, artfully coiffed and a dusting of gold around smokey black eyes. He painted his nails too and wore one of his most flattering shirts that offered just a hint of chest, not enough to be too risque for daily work. Overall, the look was fantastic but not trying too hard. 

Magnus was nervous.

He shouldn’t have been considering Alec just about did a header into a stand at the sight of him. 

“Good morning, Alexander, are you alright?” Magnus asked as Alec righted himself quickly. 

“Yep, yeah, yes, morning!” Alec squeaked at first, hastily clearing his throat mid-sentence before he practically ran to the back of the store. 

_ So far, so good _ , Magnus thought to himself as he busied himself around the front of the store. Maybe bending over to sort out the bottom shelves more than was necessary but the occasional strangled sound from the back of the shop was well worth it. 

Eventually Alec re-emerged from the back with yet another pair of marigolds in hand and very red cheeks. Magnus struck up a basic conversation with Alec and rung up his purchase as normal but instead of pulling the receipt from the machine, he handed over the ready made sheet he’d done earlier, this one had something special on it.

His phone number and the note; ‘ _ Coffee sometime? X _ ’ 

“I’ve started adding coupons for our special customers,” Magnus said as he handed over the slip. Alec took it with a smile not realising the meaning behind the words or what was on his receipt. He left not long after, marigolds in one hand and Magnus’ little note in the other. 

Magnus watched Alec from under his lashes as he exited the shop. He made himself look busy by fussing with the trinkets on the counter as Alec came to an abrupt halt on the sidewalk, finally looking at the receipt in his hand. Through the cold-fogged glass he watched as Alec’s shoulders hunched and tensed as he went through the mental motions of his discovery. The ‘no- wait- did he mean to? - is this a prank - why would he? - should I?’ was rather obvious and Magnus couldn’t fight the smile twitching his lips. 

Eventually Alec turned back to the bodega and caught Magnus’ eyes through the glass, Magnus smiled at him and held his hand to his ear in the universal sign for ‘call me’. 

Even through the blur of the frost-bitten window he could see the red flush on Alec’s cheeks darken. 

Alec nodded. A shy smile beginning to take hold. 

 

* * *

 

Alec did call, later that day in fact. It was still three weeks before their first date, though that was more as revenge on Izzy for ‘sticking her nose in things’ as Alec put it. 

 

* * *

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://capt-jackharness.tumblr.com/) & [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sassyweethang)  
> 


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